Little Patches of Sunlight
by mandaree1
Summary: Carol takes her van and her son and moves. She's just not entirely sure where they're moving to yet.


**Disclaimer: I don't own OK K.O.! Let's be Heroes!**

 **Title: Little Patches of Sunlight**

 **Summary: Carol takes her van and her son and moves. She's just not entirely sure where they're moving to yet.**

 **Setting: Pre-Canon**

 **...**

"Lookie, Peanut! We're in a city!"

K.O. stirs in the passenger's seat, stretching and yawning. Carol almost feels guilty about waking him, but he'd asked her to, should she see anything of note. "Is it a _big_ city?"

"Eh..." Carol squinted around, nodding to herself. "Pretty big, I'd say."

They coast to a stop at a red light. Carol watches her son quickly sit up and press his face to the glass, smiling at the gasp of awe the tall buildings and crowds rip from him. Over the years, it's been easy to forget just how amazing everything can be when you're a child; after all, Carol never had much contact with the little buggers, busy saving this from that. After having K.O., it's become one of her few regrets.

"Do people live in every single one of those windows?" he breathed.

"Shoot, no." That startled a laugh out of her. "Some of 'em gotta be businesses. It's hard to live together when you can't eat together, if you catch my drift." The look she's given tells Carol her words of advice have fallen on deaf ears, but that's okay. Nobody learns everything overnight.

"Do you think heroes live here?"

She hummed, tapping her chin. "Well, let's see. Big place, lots of people to protect... I'd say there's a good chance we've got some heroes, yeah."

K.O.'s eyes got even brighter, if that were possible. "And that means there's supervillains!"

Carol nodded. "Regular villains, too."

He was bouncing now, the worn car seat squeaking pitifully under his slight weight. "Is the place we're going gonna have villains, mom?"

She shifted awkwardly, thankful that the light had gone green. Carol coasted just above the speed limit. "I certainly hope so, Peanut. It's not a real place if there's no villains in it."

* * *

They stop to stretch and get gas just outside of the city. There's a playground across the street, full of kids who've just gotten out of school, and K.O. jogs over after Carol nods the okay. She watches them go, propping her hip on the front bumper.

There's a small slithering noise, too far away and too quiet for Carol to hear, and suddenly a snake's fangs are buried deep into K.O.'s arm, apparently feeling like he'd disrupted its home. A little boy screams at the sight. K.O. calmly waves the bitten hand. "Can we keep it, mommy?"

"Best put 'er back where it belongs, kiddo," she answers gently, deeply relieved that there are no venomous species around this part of the state. "Pry the top part off first- that's where the fangs are."

K.O. signs her a thumbs up and gets to work, tongue sticking out. The other children have long moved on by now, back to their families. Carol feels something defensive bloom in her chest; she'd left to get _away_ from this kind of treatment (amongst other reasons), from the people who'd expect certain things from him because he was her son, and yet they still managed to find ways to stare at K.O. as if he was some sort of zoo exhibit. Rubbed her the wrong way, is all.

"I don't think the other kids liked me very much," he pouted as they climbed into their respective seats. Carol reached over to ruffle his hair, the other hand digging around for the med kit.

"They just gotta learn to appreciate ya', is all."

* * *

Carol's original plan had simply been to find another city to set up shop in, but every stop had brought forth a menagerie of people who knew her purely by her superhero name. She's had it up to the tips of her ears with Silver Spark- she wants people to relate to her as _Carol_ \- but the only way that was happening was if she went farther than a state away.

There wasn't any denying it anymore; they needed to go over the mountains.

"Well, _have to_ is an overstatement." Carol took a long sip out of her milkshake. "We can set up anywhere you want, bud."

K.O. looks up from his french fries. "Where do you wanna go?"

"I asked you first, kiddo." She booped his nose. K.O. giggled.

"Well..." he tapped his chin a second, eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Crossing into entirely new territory- that's super brave hero stuff, right there."

"It wouldn't be _entirely_ new," Carol warned. "We wouldn't be the first people by any means."

That didn't dissuade him in the slightest. "It'd be all new to us!" He was bouncing in his seat again. "I say we go for it!"

"Then we'll head out once you finish your food." Carol snuck a fry out off of his plate, which she then used to gesture to his untouched burger. "Eat up, buddy! Just don't get overexcited and shove all of it in at once, okay?"

* * *

The trails slowly turn from concrete to dirt, but they're no less viable, save for the odd branch she stops to chuck out of the way. It'd been a long time since she'd last went camping, but building a fire and munching on bags of peanuts while watching the night light up with stars felt familiar, like a friend you've been meaning to say hello to and kept forgetting to get around to it. K.O.'s warm little body pressed against her side only added to it.

"You're deadset on bein' a hero one day, aren'tcha?" she says, watching him pluck a fly from a spider's web, destroying the web in the process. The disappointed look on his face tells her he's learned that sometimes messing with nature doesn't do you any good. "I'd better start training ya', huh?"

K.O. stared at her as if she'd handed him the world on a silver platter. "Yes, please!"

"Alrighty then, buckaroo!" Carol rifled through his hair a second proudly, smiling to each ear. "Let's start with the beginning- basic muscle building! There's no better way to get started than doin' what _every_ kid dreams of."

"Saving the world?"

"Climbin' a tree!"

"As far as short-term goals go, that's even better!"

Children, Carol has found, are basically little monkeys. They just love climbing things they technically aren't supposed to. K.O. seemed to regard the tree less as a battle against gravity and more like hugging a friend while moving upwards, laughing and cheering as they made it to the third branch. A splinter in his thumb had them stopping by the fourth, tugging it out and patting his back while he cried a bit (he cries over a splinter but a snake bite is nothing- if there's anything to be gained by this, it's that there's no denying K.O. is her son.)

Carol swings her leg and glances at the sun, which is setting. They'd be out in less than a week, barring any major disasters, and then it would be hotel room after hotel room until they found themselves a nice place to live. She felt bad, of course, for putting K.O. through all of this, but he'd never once complained. If anything, he'd accepted the long car ride with vigor, taking it as his first heroic challenge. She's lucky to have him.

* * *

" _Moooooooooooommy_!" K.O. blubbered, waddling over to wrap his arms around her legs. His arms and face are scratched up, presumably from the sticks lying strewn about camp.

"Hey," she said softly, tossing the pile of logs in her arms aside. Carol crouched so they were closer, lightly shushing him. "hey, hey, hey. It's okay, little guy. What happened?"

K.O. sniffled into the fabric of her shirt. It's not a graceful sound. "I-I just wanted to surprise you with some s'mores," he muttered wretchedly. "Since s'mores are so delicious."

Carol pulled the boy into her lap, feeling her chest warm. She had such a sweet little boy. A dorky, clumsy, sweet little boy. "Aww, thank you, sweetie. I appreciate the effort. But don't do it again, okay? You gotta get fire safety down before you can make s'mores for your Ma."

"Okay."

"How'd you get all scratched up, anyway? You didn't fall outta tree, did you?"

He shook his head, face flushing. "I wanted to break them in a super cool way."

"You tried jump kicking them, didn't you?"

K.O. let out an affirmative whimper, hugging her tighter.

"Okay, okay." She patted his head. Parenting, she's found, requires a lot of repetition, especially at times like this. "Now, how about this? After we clean up, we'll have some s'mores, and tomorrow I'll show ya' how to do a jump kick."

He shifted his head up so he could look her in the eye. "Really?"

"Really," she agreed.

* * *

Carol feels the van tremble as K.O. climbs into the back, curling up in her arms without a word. Draped across the bottom of the van is a blue blanket, a flattened pillow tucked halfheartedly under her head, which aches like someone took a hammer to it. Her whole body aches, now that she thought about it, though she was used to a little body pain after so many years of super-heroing.

Not so much being sick. Admittedly, it'd been a long time since Carol has had more than the sniffles. Must be something in the mountain air.

"You're not gonna die, are you?" he asked.

Carol pressed a kiss to his forehead. "Nah, Peanut. Just gotta- just gotta rest and get my health back up."

A day or two later, K.O. is just as ill as she is. They spend the next week groaning in the back of the van, laughing at how silly it is that they can climb trees and jump kick branches but a flu bug happens to breeze by and they're down for the count. That is, of course, until it becomes too painful to keep laughing, on account of the head and body aches.

* * *

"Well lookie here," Carol whistles through the gap in her teeth, genuinely impressed. They're on the downward slope now, and she's honestly surprised the old hunk of junk van managed to survive this long. The ridge drops sharply, revealing a small lake's worth of trees, all bright green from spring. "Would you look at this view?"

K.O. plops into her lap, seemingly without thought. His eyes are all sparkly again. "Do people camp here a lot?"

"Prolly," she grunts. Her chest is still a little raspy. " _I'd_ certainly camp here, if it were me. Just need the tent and we're right as rain."

K.O. thoughtfully chewed on a lock of hair. He was still getting used to wearing a headband, and often forgot it in the passenger's side of the van, but he'd bluntly dismissed getting the locks cut. He took after his mom- hated the thought of having short hair.

"You know..." he started hesitantly, then stopped.

"Know what?" Carol teasingly asked, wrapping her arms around his sides to pull him up and save her legs some grief from his bony behind. K.O. wriggled a bit to get comfortable.

He looked up at her. "You know, we could live out here. There's all kinds of cool branches to kick, and trees to climb, and the insects can be like little practice enemies."

"This is true," she agreed, "but there's no supervillains to fight."

"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot." K.O. blew a raspberry. "There's no point if there's no supervillains to fight, right mommy?"

"Right, Peanut," Carol echoes, feeling her heart sink. She really should've thought this moving thing through. She pats him on the head. "Now, get offa me. We need to keep goin'."

* * *

They rumble through open wheat fields and small towns, all of which are almost devoid of life. It's easily the most boring part of the trip so far, even with what amounts to an ocean of food bending to the wind just outside their windows.

They do their best to keep themselves busy. They count street signs and point out creepy old buildings they just barely catch glimpses of. Carol buys K.O. a coloring book, but they both soon learn that he gets carsick after he makes an attempt to studiously read the instructions. They keep up an almost constant dialogue, but there's really not much to say; K.O. is so little he's new to everything, and Carol has so many things she's not ready to say. There'll be time for him to know all about it later.

"Look, mom! A moo-moo!" K.O. exclaims to every cow they pass, and it's the cutest thing she's ever heard.

* * *

It's the explosions that draw them to Lakewood Plaza in the first place. Well, that and the promise of some snacks.

They drive in after the battle is done, but only just barely, judging by the smoke still coming off the craters. K.O. squeals- partially from excitement, partially because of the potholes. Even the fact that it's all over doesn't dissuade her boy from having fun with being heroic. It warms Carol's heart.

What _doesn't_ warm Carol's heart is Eugene, standing in the middle of the rubble. He's blocking the way, the dingus. Carol lays on the horn, laughing as he turns his head, spots her, turns bright red, and books it to the convenience store. It's a bit of a relief to see a familiar face after driving this far- especially considering it's Gar. Good fella.

"Can we stay here?" The seat bouncing habit is as strong as ever as K.O. practically rocks the whole van. He's tough for a boy his age, in every sense of the word. "It looks so _exciting_!"

"We can check around," she says, resting her elbow on the arm. If he wants to stay, and the place itself is decent, then they're all set to go. It's not like Carol had any ideas in the first place.

* * *

The house is nice. Plain, but nice. Carol gets started on work almost immediately, renting out the local dojo. Her only clients are old ladies looking to defend themselves, but they're sweet and it's not a bad gig, all things considered.

K.O. has trouble making friends, but that doesn't surprise her. She loves her son, but he doesn't know how to take things in moderation. Whatever the case, K.O. doesn't mind, so she doesn't mind either. If they don't see what makes him so great, they don't need to be friends in the first place.

Now that they're settled, the questions have started to flood back, mostly in relation to the father. Carol makes it clear that he's no longer in the picture and that's all that matters. If only it were that easy with her son.

"Do you miss him?" he asks her one night, after crawling in from a nightmare. Carol squeezes him a bit tighter- not too tight, she wants to see him grow up, after all.

"He was a good man, kiddo."

"But _do_ you miss him? At all?" K.O.'s voice is soft, like he's scared of conjuring something. "Isn't _that_ why we moved?"

"It's complicated," she admits. Leaving P.O.I.N.T. and moving here- it was easy. Probably a bit _too_ easy. And having K.O.'s father would have made things muddled and dramatic and much, much worse. He was a good man, like she's always said; just not good for this particular situation. "I love you, kiddo. I'm glad you're happy here."

"Love you too, mom. And I'm glad for the same things!"

They don't bring it up again.

 **Author's Note: so, honestly? This came to me because of the Carol-K.O. meditation scene. I mistook it for them hanging out in the woods, having a picnic, learnin' mediation, and brought me to this idea of backpacking in a bad van. Then I realized it was in Lakewood Plaza, literally where TKO was born, so here we are. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯**

 **-Mandaree1**


End file.
